Another One Bites the Dust…

One of the oldest universities in Europe (notice I didn't say oldest Catholic university since they were ALL Catholic)…makes a declaration of independence.

The Catholic University of Leuven, or of Louvain, was the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium. The university was founded in 1425 as the University of Leuven by John IV, Duke of Brabant and approved by a Papal bull by Pope Martin V. In 1968 the university split to form two institutions:

• Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Dutch-speaking, situated in Leuven; and
• Université catholique de Louvain, French-speaking, situated in nearby Louvain-la-Neuve, in Wallonia.

And yet….we find another all too common revolution taking place:

The five episcopal board members will only undertake an advisory function in the future, but may not decide on scientific projects like stem cell research.

Brussels/Leuven (kath.net/KNA)  In Belgium the Catholic University of Leuven has revoked its voting rights on the highest board of the University.  The five bishop members of the board will play only an advisory role in the future, but may not decide over scientific projects like stem cell research, reported the Belgian media of the University's  leadership.  Among the 30 persons included on the board also belongs the President of the Belgian Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard von Mechelen-Brüssel. 

The University explained in reports, that this decision took place after long consideration. [I wonder why it took so long? The last bit of respect for the founders of the university twinging at their consciences?] The Catholic University was indeed founded by the Bishops, but now according to its new mission statement will continue independently regardless. For that reason the word “Catholic” in the name of the University also comes under discussion. The current board decided to use the official designation KU Leuven. The >>K<< should in any case not be obligatory. Internationally, the name “University of Leuven” will be used. 

According to reports, the University stressed its independence in its new mission statement. An independent administration is an essential precondition for academic freedom.

The reason for the initiative was brought among other things by statements of Archbishop Leonard in 2010. The Bishops' President had described AIDS as a consequence of misconduct and described it as a form of imminent justice. [Which indeed it is. If you can't see past the immanent cause (modern empirical science only sees it as an exchange of a virus) and see past to the fact that sodomy is contrary to nature. (the case where the vast majority of blood would be exchanged) Using the term 'Contrary to nature” doesn't imply that it never occurs in nature, it simply means that this act is not perfective of that beings nature.] 

Wonderful.

If the statement of the Archbishop was really the cause of this move by the board of the university…it is just one more example where the abandonment of the classical teleological system of science (which includes the empirical science espoused by the researchers). This abandonment has sparked a widespread perception that any discussion of “the good” or “justice” or abstract ideas must be excluded  from any discussion or action based on the same–science in the classical sense. God help us….because we know

Meanwhile, the Canon lawsuit at Georgetown seems to be progressing nicely. www.fatherkingsociety.org